[Dave R]

Originally Posted by Poncho Dave

I’m surprised it has a master cylinder with bleeder valves. None of my ‘77’s or 78 have them, so I would assume that’s been swapped out as well.

It would have been swapped along with the proportioning valve when the 4 wheel discs were put in.

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

Originally Posted by muscle_collector

the hex caps were only on the 10th ann cars in 79

Agree , the 79's with 15x8 Flakes still used the round stainless caps.

Originally Posted by 72projectbird

although those 2.41s are brutal

An old friend had a 79 403 car with 2.41 ,,,, the road had to be wet and power braked to make it spin the wheels.
Would be a great gear with a 5spd Nash transmission

[72projectbird]

Originally Posted by Baron Von Zeppelin

Agree , the 79's with 15x8 Flakes still used the round stainless caps.


An old friend had a 79 403 car with 2.41 ,,,, the road had to be wet and power braked to make it spin the wheels.
Would be a great gear with a 5spd Nash transmission

Interesting about the caps. Learn something new every day!

And yeah, I'll be swapping out the 2.41 rear with another 78 rear I have laying around. One is a 3.23 posi, the other I think is the same but I need to double check. I'll be swapping back to drums.

[77 TRASHCAN]

Originally Posted by Baron Von Zeppelin

Agree , the 79's with 15x8 Flakes still used the round stainless caps.


An old friend had a 79 403 car with 2.41 ,,,, the road had to be wet and power braked to make it spin the wheels.
Would be a great gear with a 5spd Nash transmission

Hmmm. My 77 TA with 2.41's had no trouble spinning tires ANY time. I didn't test on it that much though. My car ran exceptionally well, even though it was the 180 HP engine. I think the initial timing was 18 degrees. I kept it in tune, always. I baby-ed it, changed oil every 3000 miles. AND for all the kind treatment I gave it, the #7 exhaust lobe started to go down around 70,000 miles. Engine is sitting on engine stand in my garage just as I pulled it in 1992. I have a bunch of engine options in the works!!! I put an essentially stock 1970 350 in my TA as a temporary fix....that is still in it...not for long!!!

I thought 78 was first year for rear disc???

[Skip Fix]

Nope 79 for rear discs.

And my 78 180 HP with 2.56 could light the tires up also. And at Texas World Speedway all it could pull was 4000 rpm though-about 130+mph.

[72projectbird]

So I'm jumping on the 78 now that the 79 I was working on is done. Started stripping the body down in preparation for metal work. I'll be replacing both door skins, the passenger quarter, the driver rocker, and lower patches on the driver quarter.

I have a new nose cone for it. The original is smoked.

Here's a couple pics, including one of the passenger quarter and why I'm replacing it.

[Gator67]

Originally Posted by 72projectbird

So I'm jumping on the 78 now that the 79 I was working on is done. Started stripping the body down in preparation for metal work. I'll be replacing both door skins, the passenger quarter, the driver rocker, and lower patches on the driver quarter.

I have a new nose cone for it. The original is smoked.

Here's a couple pics, including one of the passenger quarter and why I'm replacing it.

You must like to stay busy!

[ckaram68]

Nice bird and well-optioned! Congrats.

[3tas4me]

Originally Posted by 72projectbird

Interesting about the caps. Learn something new every day!

And yeah, I'll be swapping out the 2.41 rear with another 78 rear I have laying around. One is a 3.23 posi, the other I think is the same but I need to double check. I'll be swapping back to drums.

Correct rear gear for a 1978 with 4-speed is a 3.42. 1977 and 1979 used the 3.23. Makes a huge difference in fuel mileage though. My 1979 TATA gets 17 mpg while the best I used to get with my 1978 Y88 was 14 mpg. Both 4-speed cars.

Where do you get the ambition to do all this? I used to be like that, seems to have left me........

[Red80TA]

Perfect gears for an overdrive.

[72projectbird]

Originally Posted by 3tas4me

Correct rear gear for a 1978 with 4-speed is a 3.42. 1977 and 1979 used the 3.23. Makes a huge difference in fuel mileage though. My 1979 TATA gets 17 mpg while the best I used to get with my 1978 Y88 was 14 mpg. Both 4-speed cars.

Where do you get the ambition to do all this? I used to be like that, seems to have left me........

I just like to stay busy, and what better way to stay busy than to play with old Pontiacs? lol

[72projectbird]

More stripping. I'm using a harbor freight surfacer tool with a 40 grit drum. It actually makes quick work of it compared to a DA with 60 grit.



Door skins should be here this week. I'll get those banged out pretty quickly. I'm waiting on the inner and outter tail panel.

[Poncho Dave]

Man I wish one of mine only needed exterior work. All my cars are torn apart for floor work!

Making good progress there!

[72projectbird]

Making progress. Got the glass out, nose stripped, trunk stripped, and interior mostly gutted. Still need to remove the dash, and fix the corners on the steel part. No biggie.

[72projectbird]

Picked up another passenger fender instead of having hours and hours of hammer and dolly work in the original. It looks like it was attacked with a hammer lol.

This snowballed into stripping the front end so I can pull the drivetrain and go thru it and detail everything.

[72projectbird]

More tear down going on. Time to strip and paint everything, replace bushings, hoses, belts etc etc

[72projectbird]

Had to do a heater core, so I decided to pull the dash so I can clean up the wiring and give all the hvac related items a deep cleaning.

[3tas4me]

Mission creep, happens to all of us.....

Looks great! I am waiting on the body shop to get the body done on my Y88 so I can start putting it together.

[77 TRASHCAN]

NOW is definitely the time to do the heater core!!!

Looking forward to your dash corner repairs. My 77 has that going on too....

[72projectbird]

Doing door skins today: